The ice crew for the Heritage Classic coming up next week has moved in to Mosaic Stadium.
It’s here! 😊 #yqr #sask #HeritageClassic #NHL pic.twitter.com/Jyzba5wLXV
— Ryan McNally (@RyanE_McNally) October 15, 2019
Over the next few days, boards will be put into place and ice will be inserted into the middle of the stadium, with the aim being to have the ice ready for practices on Friday.
NHL facility operations senior manager Derek King said the stadium poses some unique advantages and challenges.
“We’re a little closer to the field –that’s nice– we have a bit of a drop down onto the field, some of the other venues we’ve been in, we’ve built a scaffolding to get into the venue,” King said. “There’s challenges with all of the venues that we go into.”
The ice cooling unit crews will use to cool down the ice. Another machine is used to heat the ice if it becomes too cold outside during the game
King said the weather plays a big factor in building and maintaining the ice.
“Cloud cover is going to be great when we’re building ice, but if it’s a warm day, we’ll use the ice plant to cool the floor, and we’ll adapt to what mother nature gives us.”
King said technology has come a long way to allow an outdoor game to become portable.
“Obviously we’ve put together these mobile units, and it allows us to travel with these and take these from province to province, down to the states, down to the southern states,” King said. “With the technology we have, it allows us to do a lot.”
This will be the fifth Heritage Classic the NHL has held, with the last one being in 2016 when the Winnipeg Jets hosted the Edmonton Oilers.
Ticket sales going well
When the NHL drops the puck on the Heritage Classic next week at Mosaic Stadium, it will be played in front of a full house.
The Regina Exhibition Association Limited says the game between the Calgary Flames and Winnipeg Jets is essentially a sell-out, with after market tickets slowly being released.
REAL President and CEO Tim Reid said typically ticket sales for event like this are hard to forecast due to disposable income and the economic climate.
“Every time we bring a once-in-a-lifetime or historic event such as this, I think the community responds well,” Reid said. “Over and above just having an opportunity to participate, I think this is our ability to send our message about what a great community Regina is and what a great province Saskatchewan is to host international and national events.”
Reid also addressed issues some people are having finding a hotel before the game.
“It doesn’t matter what city you’d be in, you’d see challenges finding hotel rooms,” Reid said. “Yes, we have people who are chartering planes, and flying in and flying out after the game, but this is just such a great international event that it means everything’s full, and frankly this is exactly what we want in our tourism industry.”
For the first time, a non-NHL market will host the Heritage Classic when the Jets and Flames face off in Mosaic Stadium next Saturday.
